Review: Sony Xperia XZ1

The Xperia XZ1 from Sony is a nice phone, but it falls well short of being a great phone. The build quality and materials are excellenmt, and yet Sony gimped the XZ1 with its dated design language. People want more screen than bezel on their phones these days and the XZ1 doesn't cut it. The fact that this handset lacks a fingerprint reader also grates me to no end.

On the plus side, the display is really nice (if small), battery life is good, data performance is on point, and voice calls / music sound great. I appreciate the waterproof chassis, and surely some will be happy that the phone has a headphone jack. The Android 8 Oreo platform runs smoothly thanks to Sony's lightweight skin and the powerful Snapdragon 835 processor.

Perhaps most importantly, the XZ1 is an excellent camera. You can capture great images and video with this phone, including super slow-motion footage that's just plain fun.

AD article continues below...

If Sony offered all these features and performance in a more modern package the XZ1 would be nearly perfect. The Xperia XZ1 is available online for $699. That's a lot of money for a phone that lacks some table-stakes features. I'd only recommend this device to die-hard Sony fans who want to upgrade to the latest camera tech.